Dear visitor, welcome to SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers. If this is your first visit here, please read the Help. It explains how this page works. You must be registered before you can use all the page's features. Please use the registration form, to register here or read more information about the registration process. If you are already registered, please login here.

Answers to Run Times

Here is some information that I have preacticed and it works well.

How do you know if you are putting the correct amount of water down with your automatic or manual sprinkler system? The most effective method is to place a rain gauge in the yard and measure how much water goes down in a certain time. During the heat of the summer, typically you will find that 1 hour in each area 3 days a week will provide the necessary moisture. During spring and fall, 15-30 minutes of water in each area, 3 times a week, may be all you need. Keep in mind that wide open areas exposed to all day sun will need more water than shaded areas and adjust water amounts accordingly. If the grass does not spring back up after walking on it or begins to show a gray appearance it's time to water.

Is it possible to over water? Absolutely! Not only is over watering wasteful it too can have detrimental effects on grass such as creating the ideal environment for the development of fungus and other turf grass diseases. A general rule of thumb is 1 to 1.5 inches per week in two to three waterings.

Let me ask you this. Say you have a yard where the soil is clay. Now its a fact that clay soil can hold quite abit of water. Its also a fact that clay soil absorbs water very slowly. Clay soil will absorb on average 1/10 of an inch of water in 1 hour. If you set a spray zone to water for 20 minutes(which I have found to be the average that "joe homeowner" sets his timer for) you will have applied 1/2" of water that the soil is not able to hold in 20 minutes! If you can agree to these simple statements, how can you justify watering a zone for 20 minutes?

You nned to grab yourself a rain gauge. In my case I like to spread out 4-5 gauges within a zone to get an average count of volume. Run your zone for about 30 minutes, see what your measurment is. If its lets say 1/4" of a measurment. Mulitply the 30 minutes x 4 to equal 1". This now equals your weekly run time of 2 hrs. Now based on the everyday of day schedule for longer runs timnes to promote deep root growth
2hrs x 60min = 120minutes / 4 days = 30minute run time every other day.

This should give you a pretty good average of how long you should run. Depending on the time of summer. Hotter Months add 50% more time, early spring and fall deduct 40-50%. This of course depends on your region.

The formula above can even be easier if you just come up with how long it takes to fill 1/4" in your gauge. x that by 4 and you get the same thing. You will have to run into the same every few minutes and get a little wet to keep checking